Information processing apparatus, distributed printing controlling method, storing medium and program

ABSTRACT

Control is effected to produce a plurality of child print jobs for a plurality of printers from data to be printed, on the basis of inputted instruction for distributed print, and information regarding a parent print job is produced on the basis of information regarding the plurality of child print jobs produced under control of the distributed print, and the parent job is displayed in a distinguishable manner from the child print job.

This application is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser.No. 11/603,881, filed Nov. 24, 2006, now allowed, which is acontinuation application of application Ser. No. 09/949,715, filed Sep.12, 2001, now abandoned, which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, adistributed print controlling method, a storing medium and a program,and more particularly, it relates to control effected when printingrequest from application is performed as distributed print on aplurality of printers, and more specifically, it relates to aninformation processing apparatus, an information processing method, astoring medium storing a computer-readable program, and such a program,in which operation instruction from an operator with respect to variousjobs can positively be executed and the operator can collectivelyrecognize conditions of the respective jobs efficiently.

2. Related Background Art

In conventional techniques, regarding print processing of a documentformed by application software using a printing function provided by ageneral OS (operating system), only print processing is performed for asingle printing device in correspondence to one printing instruction,and, when an operator wishes to effect distributed print of the documenton a plurality of printing devices, the operator must effect pluralprinting instructions by designating the number of pages to bedistribution-printed with respect to the printing devices to bedistributed. In this case, the print processing (output processing ofprinting instruction with respect to a graphic engine of OS) is effectedby means of application by the times corresponding to the number ofpages, thereby increasing operator's labor and the processing time ofapplication.

To avoid this, it is considered to propose an arrangement in which, whenthe distributed print is effected, in consideration of the operator'slabor and the print processing time of the application, the printinginstruction emitted from the application is spooled and the number ofpages is automatically designated to plural printing drivers thereby toemit plural print jobs. In this case, since the processing in which theapplication outputs the printing instruction may be performed once, thereleasing of the application from the print processing is hastened, and,since the distributed print processing can be effected automatically,the operator's labor can be decreased.

In such an arrangement, since the print request is emitted to the pluralprinter drivers, the plural print jobs are issued. Thus, when display ofstatus of the print jobs and operation of the printing jobs areperformed in order that the operator manages the print jobs, thefollowing problems will occur.

First, in spite of the fact that the operator recognizes only one printjob, since the plural print jobs corresponding to the number of printingdevices to be distributed are issued, the operation and status displayof the print jobs cannot be effected as the single distributed printjob, and, thus, it is hard to understand for the operator.

Second, when the display of the print jobs is effected so that theoperator recognizes the distributed print jobs as the single print job,it is impossible to distinguish print jobs (parent print job and childprint job) produced by the distributed print processing from the generalsingle print job.

Third, when the single parent print job to be displayed as thedistributed print job and a plurality of child print jobs produced bythe distributed print are displayed, in spite of the fact that there isa difference between the different print jobs (parent print job andchild print job), the operator cannot easily recognize and perform theoperation inherent to the distributed print in the parent print job orthe child print job.

Fourth, the distributed print processing always includes original parentprint job (or print data), and the original parent print job or aplurality of child print jobs produced by dividing the original parentprint job are sent to the printer. However, displays of states of theproduced jobs such as a timing for producing the plural child printjobs, a timing for sending the job to the output device, a timing forcompleting the print processing of the output device and a timing forgenerating error are not always be synchronized, and there is no meansfor collectively operating such related jobs and for displaying suchjobs efficiently.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is made in consideration of the abovecircumstances, and an object of the present invention is to display aparent print job which is apt to be recognized by an operator and aplurality of child print jobs actually produced so that the operator candistinguish the parent print job from the child print jobs in anarrangement for effecting distributed print. That is to say, an objectof the present invention is to provide a managing arrangement in whichthe distributed print jobs comprised of the print jobs distributed intoplural jobs can be recognized as a single distributed print job.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a managingarrangement in which a general print job and a parent print job or childprint jobs can easily be distinguished from each other and be operatedunder a circumstance that the general print job and the parent print jobor the child print jobs exist.

Further, the present invention aims to correctly control processing tobe performed in accordance with operation of print jobs (parent printjob and child print job) to be displayed. In other words, a furtherobject of the present invention is to provide an arrangement in whichthe print job (parent print job or child print job) associated with theoperated print job (parent print job or child print job) can becontrolled correctly in the operation of the parent print job or thechild print job.

An information processing apparatus according to the present inventionaims to provide an arrangement in which operation and status display ofa parent print job can be performed as a single distributed print jobeven when child print jobs are issued to a plurality of printing devicesto be distributed. To this end, the present invention provides aninformation processing apparatus for controlling distributed print,comprising distributed print controlling means for controlling toproduce a plurality of child print jobs for a plurality of printers fromdata to be printed, on the basis of inputted instruction for distributedprint, and operation controlling means for controlling to similarlyoperate the plurality of child print jobs corresponding to the parentprint job in accordance with operation instruction for the parent printjob which is a base for the plurality of child print jobs.

Alternatively, the present invention provides an information processingapparatus for controlling distributed print, comprising distributedprint controlling means for controlling to produce a plurality of childprint jobs for a plurality of printers from data to be printed, on thebasis of inputted instruction for distributed print, producing means forproducing status of a parent print job which is a base for the pluralityof child print jobs on the basis of respective statuses of the pluralityof child print jobs produced under the control of the distributed printcontrolling means, and display controlling means for displaying thestatus of the parent print job produced by the producing means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view for showing an example of a printing system to which aninformation processing apparatus according to the present invention isapplied;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for schematically showing a function and aconstruction of the information processing apparatus according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a memory map obtained when a program module from a storingmedium of the present invention is developed in an RAM 201;

FIG. 4 is a memory map showing data arrangement of the program module inthe storing medium of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a view for showing a relationship between the informationprocessing apparatus and the storing medium of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram for explaining an example of aprint system for realizing operation and display of distributed print ofthe present invention;

FIG. 7 is a view for showing an example of a displaying method providedby the program module (function) of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a view for showing an example of transition of a status ofjobs in distributed print processing as a premise of an operating systemof the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing a sequence of deleting processing for anoriginal job of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing a sequence of deleting processing for aprint job produced by distributed print processing of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing a sequence for updating information of ajob produced by the distributed print of managing information of theoriginal job of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing a sequence for displaying a state of thejob produced by the distributed print processing of the presentinvention as information relating to the original job;

FIG. 13 is a view for showing an example of job managing information;and

FIG. 14 is a view for showing an example of a displaying method providedby the program module (function) of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Now, an embodiment of the present invention for applying a print systemincluding an information processing apparatus according to the presentinvention will be explained.

FIG. 1 is a constructural view of the print system including theinformation processing apparatus according to the present invention. Thesystem includes a client computer (also referred to merely as “client”hereinafter) 101 as an example of the information processing apparatusaccording to the present invention in which a print control program ofthe present invention is implemented to execute distributed printprocessing and to which a plurality of printer drivers corresponding toa plurality of printing devices (referred to as “printers” hereinafter)on a network are installed, and printers 102, 103, 104 connected to thenetwork and serve to perform print processing by receiving print jobsfrom the client 101. In the illustrated embodiment, while an examplethat the client computer is applied to the information processingapparatus will be explained, the present invention is not limited tosuch an example, but, for example, a printer server can be applied tothe information processing apparatus so that the printer server executesprocessing similar to processing described below. Further, the print jobin the specification means a group of data from job start command to jobfinish command, and each printer can execute the print processing fromprint job to print job (and inhibits interruption of other print job).The print data means command for controlling image contents of the printjob and the printer. By the printer driver implemented in the client101, print command (DDI function) received from application via an OS isconverted into print date (also referred to as “printer controllanguage” or “page describing language” hereinafter), and the print jobincluding a group of print data is issued to the specific printer.Further, as will be described later, the client 101 as the informationprocessing apparatus of the present invention serves to spool the printcommand from the application in a predetermined data style (using EMFspool or RAW spool) and to issue a plurality of print jobs by producingprocessing of the plurality of printer drivers.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a hardware constructionof the client 101 shown in FIG. 1. A CPU 200 serves to control theentire client 101. A ROM 201 stores various programs and data forcontrolling the client 101, and the CPU 200 executes various processingoperations in the client in accordance with the program stored in theROM 201 or a RAM 202 while utilizing the RAM 202 as a work memory.

An FD drive 203 has a function for reading-out or writing data (program)from an FD 204 as an example of a storing medium for storing controlprogram according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, thefloppy disc (FD) 204 is inserted into the FD drive 203 and input/outputof data is performed between the client machine and the floppy disc 204.

FIG. 4 is a view for showing a memory map of the data in the floppy disc204. As shown in FIG. 4, the floppy disc 204 stores therein volumeinformation 401, directory information 402, network printer controlprogram for the printers 102 to 104, and related data 404.

FIG. 5 is a view for showing a memory map obtained when the controlprogram 403 is developed from the floppy disc 204 to the RAM 202. Asshown in FIG. 5, the RAM has an area for storing BIOS (basic I/Oprogram) 501, an operating system (OS) 502, a network printer controlprogram 503 developed from the floppy disc 204 and related data 504, anda work area 505.

Returning to FIG. 2, a hard disc (HD) 205 is an example of an externalmemory. Application software is installed in the HD, and the printcontrol program of the present invention is read-in from the FD 204 viathe FD drive 203 and is also installed in the ED 205. A keyboard 206 asan example of an input device has a function for inputting instructionfrom the operator. Further, as another example of the input device,there is a pointing device such as a mouse.

A display 207 as an example of display means may be a CRT or an LCD andhas a function for displaying user interface provided by the printcontrol program on the basis of the OS. Further, the displaying of thedisplay 207 is actually based on instruction of the CPU 200, and apredetermined view or picture plane is displayed by processing a signalbased on the instruction of the CPU 200 acting as display controllingmeans by means of the display 207. Incidentally, a user interface suchas shown in FIG. 7 which will be described later can be realized byprocessing a signal based on the instruction of the CPU 200 by means ofthe display 207.

An interface (preferably, a network board in the illustrated embodiment)209 has a function for connecting the information processing apparatusto LAN (local area network) and for effecting communication with anexternal device.

The above-mentioned elements 200 to 208 (except for the floppy disc 204)are interconnected via a system bus 209 to transmit data therebetween.

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a distributed print system for realizingan operation and displaying method of the distributed print jobs on thebasis of the print control program (method) of the present invention.FIG. 6 shows an example which is realized by a spooler of “Windows”(registered trade mark) OS (operating system) and combination of printprocessing operations. In the present invention, as an embodiment, whilea displaying function and the print system on the “Windows” will beexplained, the OS may be one other than the “Windows”, and the spooleris not limited to the spooler of the “Windows”.

Further, regarding the distributed print method relating to theoperation system of the present invention, so long as the distributedprint processing is effected with respect to a plurality of printers onthe basis of one print instruction from the application, specificationof hardware of the OS and the distributed print method designating thetype of distribution are not particularly limited. That is to say, adistribution method in which child print jobs for plural printers areproduced and outputted on the basis of a parent print job can be appliedto the present invention. For example, the distribution method mayinclude part number distribution in which a predetermined number ofparts are assigned for each plural output, or page distribution in whicha predetermined number print pages are assigned for each output, ordistribution method in which, in accordance with a print condition suchas operator's usage or color/monochromatic print as one of pagedistributions, output recipient device is determined and distributed.

In FIG. 6, in application software (referred to merely as “application”hereinafter) having a function for forming a document (includingdocument style, table style, image file, DTP and the like), the operatorcan instruct the distributed print. For example, a single imaginaryprinter driver (referred to as “distributed print driver” hereinafter)is previously formed for distributed print. The distributed print driverhas a module for actually calling-out a plurality of printer drivers,and, when the print command is received, it spools the print command asa predetermined data pattern (for example, EMF: enhanced meta-file) andautomatically distributes the print command and requests printing to theplurality of printer drivers set by the print driver. Although the printcommand itself transferred to the respective drivers is entire printcommand, since the number of pages is designated in the command, theprocessing for producing the print data regarding the designated pagenumber in each printer driver.

In FIG. 6, when the operator instructs the printing of the document fromthe application with respect to the distributed print driver, theapplication outputs the print command (GDI function) to a GDI as agraphic engine of the OS. Further, an EMF spooler exists between theapplication and the GDI, and contents of the print command outputtedfrom the application is spooled in EMF of binary type. Incidentally,since EMF is well-known in OS of the “Windows”, explanation thereof willbe omitted.

The GDI as the graphic engine of the OS converts the print command intoprint command (DDI function) which can be interpreted by the printerdriver to which the output is sent and transfers the processing to sucha driver. The printer driver produces print data of required page numberon the basis of the print command (DDI function) obtained from the GDIand the designated page number and outputs the print data to the spooler(RAW spooler). The spooler 1 outputs the spooled print data for eachpredetermined unit to the printer connected to the RAN via atransferring portion, with the result that the printing is effected bythe predetermined printer.

Further, here, in order to simplify the explanation, regarding thespooler 1, the RAW spooler for spooling the print data and the EMFspooler for spooling the EMF type data before it is transferred to theGDI are explained in the same manner. When detailed explanation is made,as mentioned above, since the EMF spooler is spooled on the basis of thedata outputted from the application, it exists before GDI. The ENF typedata spooled in the EMF spooler is transferred to a re-spooling portion(one module of the print control program) together with the page number.In order to produce the print data by means of a second printer drivercorresponding to the printer to be distributed, the print command isagain outputted to the printer driver together with the page number viathe GDI, thereby outputting the print data to the printer via thespooler 2. Further, if necessary (when the data is distributed to threeor more printers), in order to produce the print data from there-spooling portion by means of a third printer driver, the printcommand is again outputted to the printer driver together with the pagenumber via the GDI, thereby outputting the print data to the printer viathe spooler 3.

Further, in the print system shown in FIG. 6, while an example that theEMF is utilized as the spool file was explained, when the printers foreffecting the distributed print are same type printers, since theprinter languages of the print data are same, the RAW spooler can beused. In this case, when the first print data is produced by the printerdriver, all of the pages are produced, and the number of pages isdesignated for each of the printers to be distributed, thereby effectingthe printing.

By automatically effecting the distributed print in this way, since theoperator's labor is reduced and the outputting of the print command fromthe application can be performed only once, releasing from the printprocessing is hastened and distributed print which can easily beperformed by the operator can be provided.

FIG. 7 shows an example of display of printer object of the distributedprint job (being distribution-print-processed) to be operated anddisplayed. The processing for acquiring the status of each print job isthe same as the processing for acquiring the status of the normal printjob and can be performed by any means. For example, the status may beacquired by effecting pouring directly from the client with respect to aprint server or a printer (not shown) or status notice may be receivedfrom the print server or the statuses of the parent print job and thechild print job of the distributed print job can be recognized on thebasis of the statuses of the respective print jobs obtained in this way.The parent print job is the distributed print job itself based on theprint command requested by the application and the child print jobs arethe actual print jobs distributed to the respective printers in thedistribution print job. More specifically, the parent print job is a jobcorresponding to that produced on the basis of the print commandrequested by the application and held as the spool file, and, althoughthe spool file corresponding to the parent print job corresponds to, forexample, the above-mentioned EMF, the present invention is not limitedto such spool file, but, so long as a file can be converted into PDL,even when a plurality of printers corresponding to different pagedescribing languages are a target, the child print jobs can be producedand can be applied to the present invention.

Further, the child print job corresponds to a print job including printdata produced on the basis of the instruction of the distributed printdriver by the printer driver corresponding to the printer to which thespool file (corresponding to a file of type which can be converted intoPDL; for example, corresponding to EMF) is further distributed via there-spooling portion.

The reference numeral 701 shows an example of a user interface view foreffecting display and operation regarding the original parent print job.The user interface view (referred to as “UI” hereinafter) is provided bythe print control program by performing double-click of an icon of thedistributed print driver and displayed on the display. In the UI, thestatus (state) of the parent print job is displayed as “spooling”. The“spooling” means that the print data is spooled (transferred and storedin a memory of the printer) with respect to the printer. Otherconditions includes “waiting print”, “printing”, “print finished(deleted)” and “error generated”. Further, in the UI in the example 701,for example, when a menu (not shown) of “printer to be distributed” isselected from “printer (P)”, the following dialogues (UI) 702, 703 aredisplayed.

The reference numerals 702, 703 are examples of user interface views(dialogue boxes) for effecting display and operation regarding the childjobs produced from the original job by effecting the distributed printprocessing with respect to two output devices. In this way, since onlythe corresponding child print jobs can be extracted from UI of theparent print job, the operator not only can easily recognize the presentcondition of the entire distributed print processing but also can easilyextract information regarding the plurality of child print jobcorresponding to the parent print job. As a result, even under acircumstance in which the child print jobs are mixed with and processedtogether with the general print jobs in the predetermined printer, theoperator can easily distinguish the child jobs associated with theparent print job. Incidentally, the displaying of the child print jobsis not limited to the above-mentioned example. In the above examples702, 703, while the states of the child print jobs corresponding to theparent print jobs were displayed in different frames, of course, a listof plural child print jobs corresponding to the parent print jobs can bedisplayed in a single frame. Further, in this case, the list of pluralchild print jobs displayed in the single frame corresponds to a list fordisplaying recipients and states of child print jobs designated by UI onwhich a list of plural parent print jobs is displayed and correspondingto the plural respective child print jobs extracted in correspondence tothe predetermined parent print job.

It should be noted that the status (state) of the parent print job inthe example 701 shown in FIG. 7 does not represent the status itself ofthe print data produced as the original but represents an imaginarystatus produced by combining the respective statuses of the plural childprint jobs divided and produced from the original print data. Byproviding the imaginary status of the parent print job to the operator,for example, the operator can easily know a condition such as whetherthe entire distributed print processing is completed or not, withoutrecognizing the respective statuses of the plural divided child printjobs. That is to say, the parent print job may merely be grasped inorder to know the printing condition of one document print-instructed bythe operator, even in any distributed print method and even how manychild print jobs are produced and which conditions is given to suchjobs.

In this way, by displaying the dialogue box of the imaginary printerdriver, the operation and status display of the parent print job in thedistributed print can be effected, and, further, the status display andoperation of the child print jobs can be effected by displaying thedialogue box of the printer to be distributed, with the result that theoperator can clearly understand the display of the distributed print joband can easily understand the operation of each job.

FIG. 8 is a table showing an example of status transition of theoriginal parent print job (called as “parent job” in FIG. 8) and thechild print jobs divided by the distributed print (called as “child job”in FIG. 8). As mentioned above, the original print job is referred to asthe parent print job and the jobs produced by the distributed printprocessing are referred to as the child print jobs. In the informationprocessing apparatus according to the present invention, the status ofthe parent print job is determined by a combination of the respectivestatuses of the plural child print jobs. As a result, the present statusof the distributed print job can easily be grasped by recognizing thestatus of the parent print job without understanding the respectivestatuses of the child print jobs which are not synchronized. Further,the statuses are not limited to those shown in FIG. 8, but, for example,an error status may be included. In this case, the present invention mayhave a control arrangement in which the status of the parent print jobis regarded as “error” if any one of the child print jobs becomes theerror status. Hereinbelow, in the explanation of the illustratedembodiment, regarding the print jobs, the parent print job isdistinguished from the child print job.

Now, the characteristics of the present invention will be explained.

The information processing apparatus (client 101) according to thepresent invention serves to control distributed print and comprisesdistributed print controlling means for effecting control (processing ofa print control program to transfer EMF data to respective printerdrivers while designating page numbers) to produce a plurality of childprint jobs for a plurality of printers from print data to be printed(GDI function as print command outputted from application, orcorresponding EMF data) by using the printer drivers for causing theprinters to print, on the basis of distributed print command (printinstruction to distributed print driver) inputted to the print controlprogram by an operator, display controlling means for displayingstatuses of the plurality of child print jobs (examples 702, 703 in FIG.7) produced in accordance with the control of the distributed printcontrolling means and a status of the parent print job (example 701 inFIG. 7) which is a base for the plurality of child print jobs in such amanner that these statuses can be recognized (in the illustratedembodiment, dialogues are divided. Further, the parent print job may bedisplayed as classification “parent” in a list of the child print jobs,which will be described later), and operation controlling means foreffecting control (processing described in connection with FIG. 9 and soon) in such a manner that the plurality of child print jobscorresponding to the parent print job are similarly operated.

Further, the operation of the print job in the operation controllingmeans may be a deleting operation (flow chart shown in FIG. 9).

Further, the deleting control in the operation controlling means may becontrol wherein, if the associated child print job is stored in a memoryof the information processing apparatus, such child print job is deletedfrom the memory, and, if the associated child print job is sent to theprinter, instruction of deleting is instructed to the printer.

Further, the operation of the print job in the operation controllingmeans may be an interrupting operation.

Further, the interrupting control in the operation controlling means maybe control wherein, if the associated child print job is stored in amemory of the information processing apparatus, such child print job isinterrupted, and, if the associated child print job is sent to theprinter, instruction of interruption is instructed to the printer.

Further, the display controlling means may provide a user interface forrecognizing the status of the parent print job.

Further, the display controlling means may display a list of statuses ofall of the child print jobs produced from the parent print job by thedistributed print processing when displaying instruction for the childprint jobs is effected in the user interface by designating the parentprint job.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing a sequence for collectively deleting thechild print jobs by instructing deletion while designating the parentprint job in the job operation using the print control program of thepresent invention. Now, the detailed sequence will be described withreference to FIG. 9. Incidentally, although the processing of each stepin flow charts shown in FIGS. 10, 11 and 12 which will be describedhereinbelow is realized by reading-in a program code stored innon-volatile storing means such as the ROM 201 or the HD 205 by means ofthe CPU 200 of the information processing apparatus and by effecting theprocessing in accordance with the read-in program code, if a part of theflow chart or all of the steps in the flow chart is processed by theprint server or the printer, a CUP of the server or the printer reads-inthe program code stored in the non-volatile storing means each time andthe processing is effected in accordance with the read-in program code.

In a step S901 in FIG. 9, the processing in the flow chart of FIG. 9 isstarted. Such starting may be initiated, for example, when the job issubjected to the distributed print processing so that the parent printjob and the child print jobs are UI-displayed by using the dialogueboxes as shown in FIG. 7. In this case, the status of each job may beany status so long as the job can be deleted.

In a step S902, if the operator designates the parent job on the UI byusing an operating portion such as a mouse or a keyboard and instructionfor deleting the parent print job from a “deleting menu” (not shown) of“document” on the UI is inputted by a “del” key, in a step S903, a printsystem (print control program) managing the designated parent print jobjudges whether the deletion-instructed job is the parent print job ofthe distributed print processing or not, and an operable child print jobis present or not, by referring management information (managed by theRAM 202) of the child print job accompanying with job managementinformation (managed by the RAM 202) of the deletion-instructed parentprint job. For example, if the designated job is the parent print joband if the child print job which has no deleting condition due to thefact that the print processing is initiated by the functions of theprinting devices (printers 102 to 104), i.e., there is an operable childprint job, the program goes to a step S904; whereas, if the designatedjob is not the parent print job or if there is no operable child printjob, the program goes to a step S907.

The processing in the step S903 will be described further in detail.FIG. 13 shows a concrete example of the job management informationreferred by the information processing apparatus in the step S903. FIG.13 shows a part of the job management information of the presentinvention, wherein the reference numeral 1301 denotes job ID fordistinguishing the job; 1302 denotes a name of the print job; and 1303denotes a name of the printer in which the job is spooled. The referencenumeral 1304 denotes a status relating to the job such as an operatingcondition or an error generating condition. Further, the referencenumeral 1305 denotes original job ID. The reference numeral 1306 denotesa pointer for a child job information list. Job information of the childprint job is stored in address designated by the pointer, and, in caseof FIG. 13, information for referring items 1307 to 1309 is stored. Inthe items 1307 to 1309, IDs of the child print jobs and informationsindicating a document name, a status and an output recipient printername corresponding to each ID are stored.

Here, explaining the job management information for the parent print joband the job management information for the child print jobs in adistinguished manner, in the job management information for the parentprint job, a value of the original job ID 1305 in FIG. 13 storesinformation for distinguishing the job as the original job, such as, forexample, “xxxx” because such job itself the original job. The pointer1306 for the child print job information list stores a pointer forreferring respective informations of the plural child print jobsproduced on the basis of the print data thereof.

Next, explaining the child print job management information withreference to FIG. 13, the job ID 1301 stores ID of the child print jobitself, and the original job ID 1305 stores the parent print job ID asthe original job. By referring the job ID 1305, the parent print jobcorresponding to the child print job can be specified. The pointer forthe child print job information list also stores information fordistinguishing the job itself as the child print job. Of course, thepointer may store a pointer for referring information such as statusesof child print jobs other than the job thereof. In this case, otherchild print job can be specified from the child print job managementinformation.

Incidentally, the job management information in the present invention isnot limited to the above-mentioned one, but, the parent print job andthe child print jobs can refer or update the other information relativeto each other, and, the relationship between the parent print job andthe child print jobs in the present invention can be realized so long asthe respective information updating operations can be effected in asynchronous manner in the data.

Further, the job management informations shown in FIG. 13 can beutilized in processing operations in steps S1003 and S1005 in FIG. 10,in steps S1103 and S1104 in FIG. 11 and in a step S1203 in FIG. 12,which will be described later.

In the step S904, the print control program controls to delete the childprint jobs produced from the deletion-instructed parent print job. Thedeleting processing for the child print job can be effected in a similarmanner to a conventional deletion of print job. For example, when theprint job is spooled in the client, the deletion of the child print jobsis effected. Further, when the child print jobs are spooled in the printserver, the client emits deleting instruction of the desired child printjob to the print server. Further, when the job is spooled in theprinter, the deleting instruction of the child print job is effected byusing the job ID issued from the printer. The deletion of the childprint job itself has no characteristic and is the same as theconventional deletion of the print job and can be achieved by anydeletion processing method. Here, the characteristic is to recognize thecorresponding child print job on the basis of deleting instruction ofthe parent print job and to control effecting the deletion processing ofsuch child print job.

When the deletion processing of the child print job is effected in thestep S904, in a step S905, the print control program (in actual, controlof the CPU 200 on the basis of the print control program) updates themanagement information of the parent print job. For example, the status(waiting print” of the child print job is updated to #deletionfinished”. After the deletion of the child print job and update of themanagement information of the parent print job, the program goes to astep S906, where the CPU 200 updates to a condition that the child printjob is deleted (for example, the display 702 is deleted), on the basisof the print control program. Then, the program is returned to the stepS903, and the sequence from the step S904 to the step S906 is repeateduntil all of the operable child print jobs are deleted.

In the steps S903 to S906, when all of the operable child print jobs aredeleted, the program goes to a step S907, where the CPU 200 deletes theparent print job designated by the operator, on the basis of the printcontrol program. Here, the deleting processing of the parent print jobis deletion of the management information managed to display the parentprint job and deletion of the spool file (file corresponding to EMFdata) spooled to produce the distributed print job.

In a step S908, the status display of the parent job deleted incorrespondence to the step S907 is updated (corresponding to thedeletion of the list of the parent job of FIG. 9), thereby finishing thedeleting processing. For example, in case of the display of the parentprint job in the example 701 of FIG. 7, the update is effected to acondition that one of the jobs is deleted and then the deletingoperation is finished. In the step S903, if there is no child print jobbeing managed, as it is, in the step S907, only the designated job isdeleted, and, in the step S908, the display information of the job isupdated, and then, the deleting operation is finished.

Incidentally, the interrupting operation can be realized in the similarmanner, except for judgement of the deleting processing of the job.

Further, even information relating to the job such as setting ofpriority of job can be updated in the similar manner so long as theinformation is information of the child print job associated with theparent print job.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing a sequence for deleting the parent printjob when all of the child print job are deleted.

In a step S1001, the processing in the flow chart of FIG. 10 is started.Such starting may be initiated, for example, when a certain job issubjected to the distributed print processing so that the parent printjob and the child print jobs are displayed as shown in FIG. 7. In thiscase, the status of each job may be any status so long as the job can bedeleted.

In a step S1002, if the instruction of deletion of the job regarding thechild print job as shown in the example 702 in FIG. 7 is inputted, in astep S1003, the print system in which the deletion of the job isinstructed judges whether there is the parent print job producing such ajob by using the job management information shown in FIG. 13 whilereferring the child job management information. That is to say, it isjudged whether a job having ID corresponding to the original job IDshown by 1305 in FIG. 13.

If there is the parent print job, the child job information relation tothe parent job in the parent job management information isdistinguished, and the status is updated to “deletion finished” (stepS1004). In the child job management information (corresponding to1307-1309 in FIG. 13) included in the updated parent print job, if otherjobs are all deleted by any operation or the print finishing (NO in astep S1005), in a step S1006, it is regarded that one distributed printprocessing is completed, and both the child print jobsdeletion-instructed by the operator and the parent print job producingsuch child print jobs are deleted. Then, in a step S1007, the display ofthe child print jobs and the parent print job is updated, and, in a stepS1010, the deleting processing is finished. In the step S1010, in aprinter object as shown by the example in FIG. 7, one parent print joband the produced child print jobs are all deleted.

In the step S1005, if another child job is not deleted, the program goesto a step S1008, where only the child print job deletion-instructed isdeleted, and, in a step S1009, only the display of the child print jobis updated, and then the processing is finished. Further, as theprocessing in the step S1009, although not shown in the flow chart, thestatus of the parent print job may be updated in accordance with therule as shown in FIG. 8 in dependence upon a combination of the statusesof the updated child print job and other child print job as the statusof the child print job is updated in the step S1008. For example, if thestatus of the child job 1 in FIG. 8 is “transferring” and the status ofthe child job 2 is “waiting print”, when the child job 2 is deleted, thestatus of the parent print job is updated from “waiting print” to“printing”, and the UI display is also updated as the status is updated.

Further, in the step S1003, if there is no parent print job, only thejob instructed in the sequence in the step S1008 is deleted, and, in thestep S1009, the updated is effected to display in which the instructedjob is deleted, with the result that the operator can execute theoperation without effecting special operation, similar to the generaljob.

In this way, according to the present invention, since the flow chartsas shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 can be realized, for example, the pluralityof child print jobs produced and distributed to the plural printersunder the LAN circumstance, and the child print jobs distributed fromthe child print job to the parent print job or another printing devicescan be operated collectively, thereby providing more easy printingcondition to the operator.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing a sequence for notifying to the parentprint job when the information or status of the child print job isupdated.

In a step S1101, the processing in the flow chart of FIG. 11 is started.Such starting may be initiated when the information of the child printjob is updated (for example, the status is updated from “waiting print”to “printing”).

In a step S1102, the status of the job is updated by the operator'sinput. The operator's input may be, for example, input instructinginterruption of processing of the job to be operated via UI. Further, ifan error is generated in any one of the information processingapparatus, printer server and printer, information notifying the erroris automatically sent from the device in which the error was generatedto an information processing apparatus (personal computer manipulated bythe operator), and, in the step S1102, the job management information ofthe child print job is updated on the basis of the notified information.

In a step S1103, the CPU 200 judges whether there is the parent printjob from the job management information in which the status was updated,if the job the status of which was updated is the child print job.Actually, in such judgement, the judgement of the presence of the parentprint job is effected by judging whether there is the job correspondingto the original job ID 1305 in FIG. 13 while referring such ID.

If there is the parent print job, in a step S1104, from the child jobmanagement information included in the parent print job, the informationthereof is retrieved by the job ID and the status corresponding to IDthereof in the management information is updated. After the processingin the step S1104 is finished, in a step S1105, display of UI of the jobthe status of which was updated is updated, and the processing isfinished. The update of the display of UI in the step S1105 may beupdate of display of UI corresponding to the child print job or updateof display of UI of the parent print job upon updating the status of thechild print job based on the manner explained in connection with FIG. 8.

In case of update of the job management not including the parent printjob, the program goes from the step S1103 to the step S1105, and onlythe display of the job the information of which was updated is updated.Here, as a circumstance in which there is no parent print job, forexample, under a condition that the child print job is produced inanother information processing apparatus different from the informationprocessing apparatus for producing the parent print job, wheninstruction of deletion of the child print job is inputted from anotherinformation processing apparatus, if the communication with theinformation processing apparatus for producing the parent print job isimpossible for any reason, the presence of the parent print job cannotbe recognized from another information processing apparatus. Further,this is also true in FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing a sequence for displaying the status ofthe child print job by designating the parent print job.

In a step S1201, the processing in the flow chart of FIG. 12 is started.Such starting may be initiated at any condition so long as the parentprint job exists. In a step S1202, for example, when instruction for“status display” (not shown) from the menu of UI by the operator via UIof the example 701 in FIG. 7 by designating the parent print job, in astep S1203, the CPU 200 refers the management information of the(distributed) plural child print jobs corresponding to the parent printjob on the basis of the print control program. Upon referring, the jobmanagement information as explained in connection with FIG. 13 isutilized. Further, regarding this job management information, latestchild job information is always reflected in the sequence shown in theflow chart of FIG. 11 and the information of the child print job deletedis also remained.

Then, in a step S1204, the CPU 200 displays a list of job ID, documentname, status, output recipient printer name and job division order suchas (½) obtained from the management information on the basis of theprint control program. By this sequence, the statuses of the pluralchild print jobs can be displayed together with the child print jobinformation. Further, in the list, not only all of the child print jobscorresponding to the parent print job are displayed but also the parentprint job which is a base of the child jobs is displayed. In this case,by providing “classification”, the parent print job may be representedas “parent” and the child print job may be represented as “child” in adistinguishable manner. A user interface different from the interface ofFIG. 7 in which the parent print job and the child print jobs arecollectively displayed as the list is shown in FIG. 14. Printers A to Cshown in the same frame as 1401 correspond to the printers by which thechild print jobs are processed, and Mr. Distribution in 1401 indicatesthe printer corresponding to the parent print job. In Status (shown as“printing”) in 1402, the status of the parent print job produced on thebasis of the statuses corresponding to 1403 to 1404 is displayed.Although only one display corresponding to the parent print job is madein the frame as 1402, when a list regarding the plural parent print jobsis displayed in the frame 1402, the list of the child print jobscorresponding to the predetermined parent print job selected from theplural jobs is switched to the same frame in which 1403 to 1405 aredisplayed. Further, information as 1402 and information as 1403-1405 arenot displayed collectively, but, as explained in connection with FIG. 7,the frames regarding the parent print job and the child print jobs maybe displayed at a different timing. Incidentally, in FIG. 14, althoughthree child print jobs are illustrated, it should be noted that thepresent invention can be applied to an arrangement in which, forexample, 100 produceable child print jobs and a parent print job whichis a base of the 100 child print jobs are displayed.

By the above-mentioned sequence, the operation and display of thepresent invention can be realized.

In the illustrated embodiment, while an example that the operation of PCis effected on the OS of the Windows was explained, any device such asother OS or PC can be used so long as one job is outputted from aplurality of output devices in spool systems different with respect tothe plural output devices or in a device capable of effecting printercontrol.

In the present invention, the print data intended by the operator ishandled as one job, and, when new plural jobs are produced from theprint data, for example, even if the print data is divided or even ifthe number of parts or number of pages is increased by copying, thepresent invention can be applied.

After the new jobs are produced by the distributed print processing,only the management information of the original job exists, and similarfunction may be provided by deleting the print data.

Application range of the operation and display of the job of the presentinvention is not limited to the display of a host computer until the jobis transferred to the printer, but can be applied to all circumstancesin which the job is spooled in the printer or at least one of job, printdata and job management information such as print processing job orsheet discharge confirmation waiting job.

Incidentally, the present invention can be applied to a systemconstituted by a plurality of equipments (for example, a host computer,interface equipment, reader, printer and the like) or a system comprisedof a single device (a copying machine, printer, facsimile and the like).

Further, the object of the present invention can be achieved byreading-out and executing a program code of a software for realizing thefunction of the illustrated embodiment stored in a storing medium bymeans of a computer (or CPU or MPU) of a system or a device.

In this case, the program code itself read out from the storing mediumrealizes the function of the illustrated embodiment, and, thus, thestoring medium storing such program code or the program code itselfconstitutes the present invention.

As the storing medium for storing the program code, for example, afloppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a photo-magnetic disk, MO,CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD, a magnetic tape, a non-volatile memory card or ROMcan be used.

Further, it should be noted that the present invention includes aconcept that not only the functions of the above-mentioned embodimentsare realized by executing the program code read out by means of thecomputer, but also OS (operating system) running on the computerexecutes the actual processing partially or totally on the basis ofinstruction of the program code to realize the functions of theembodiments.

Further, it should be noted that the present invention includes aconcept that, after the program code read out from the recording mediumis written in a memory of a function expansion board inserted into thecomputer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, a CPUof the function expansion board or of the function expansion unitexecutes the actual processing partially or totally on the basis ofinstruction of the program code to realize the functions of theembodiments.

As mentioned above, according to the present invention, a plurality ofchild print jobs corresponding to a plurality of parent print jobs canbe produced from the print data on the basis of the instruction of thedistributed print inputted by the operator, and the plural child printjobs produced in accordance with the control of the distributed printand the parent print job which is a base of the plural child print jobscan be displayed in a distinguishable manner. Further, since the pluralchild print jobs corresponding to the parent print job are operatedsimilarly in accordance with the operation instruction for the parentprint job, the parent print job which is recognized as the singledistributed print job by the operator can be displayed, and, further,the arrangement in which the display and operation of the distributedprint job can easily be understood by the operator can be provided.

Further, the processing to be operated can be controlled correctly inaccordance with the operation of the displayed print jobs (parent printjob and child print jobs).

1. A distribution printing system that controls distribution printing,comprising: a child job controller that controls generating of aplurality of child jobs for a plurality of printers based onintermediate data generated as a parent job in accordance withapplication data, in response to input of an instruction fordistribution printing; an output controller that controls outputtingeach of the plurality of child jobs to a corresponding one of theplurality of printers; and a display controller that causes a displayunit to display a status of the parent job, wherein said displaycontroller causes the display unit to display an output status of theparent job as the status of the parent job before any one of theplurality of child jobs is generated, and causes the display unit tochange displaying of the status of the parent job based on at least oneof the plurality of child jobs after the at least one child job isgenerated.
 2. A system according to claim 1, further comprising adeletion controller that controls deletion of the parent job afterdeleting the plurality of child jobs, when deletion of the parent job isinstructed, wherein if any one of the plurality of child jobs cannot bedeleted, said deletion controller controls deletion such that the parentjob is deleted even if the plurality of child jobs are not deleted.
 3. Asystem according to claim 1, further comprising a deletion controllerthat controls deletion of the plurality of child jobs and the parentjob, wherein when deletion of one of the plurality of child jobs isinstructed via an operation instruction screen, said deletion controllerdeletes the one child job, without deleting the parent job, if anotherof the plurality of child jobs is present, and deletes the one child joband the parent job, if no other ones of the plurality of child job arepresent.
 4. A system according to claim 1, further comprising: anadditional output controller that controls outputting of the pluralityof child jobs to a first print queue and a second print queue from whichdata are to be output to a first printer and a second printer,respectively; and a deletion controller that when deletion of the parentjob is instructed, deletes the respective child jobs retained in thefirst and second print queues.
 5. A system according to claim 4, whereinif the plurality of child jobs have been output to the first and secondprinters via the first and second print queues, respectively, saiddeletion controller controls the first and second printers to delete thechild jobs retained therein.
 6. A system according to claim 1, furthercomprising a deletion controller that controls the first and secondprinters to delete the plurality of child jobs that have been output tothe first and second printers via first and second print queues,respectively, when deletion of the parent job is instructed.
 7. A methodof controlling distribution printing, comprising: a generating step ofgenerating of a plurality of child jobs for a plurality of printersbased on intermediate data generated as a parent job in accordance withapplication data, in response to input of an instruction fordistribution printing; an output step of outputting each of theplurality of child jobs to a corresponding one of the plurality ofprinters; and a display step of causing a display unit to display astatus of the parent job, wherein said display step causes the displayunit to display an output status of the parent job as the status of theparent job before any one of the plurality of child jobs is generated,and causes the display unit to change displaying of the status of theparent job based on at least one of the plurality of child jobs afterthe at least one child job is generated.
 8. A method according to claim7, further comprising a deletion step of deleting the parent job afterdeleting the plurality of child jobs, when deletion of the parent job isinstructed, wherein if any one of the plurality of child jobs cannot bedeleted, the parent job is deleted even if the plurality of child jobsare not deleted.
 9. A method according to claim 7, further comprising adeletion step of deleting of the plurality of child jobs and the parentjob, wherein when deletion of one of the plurality of child jobs isinstructed via an operation instruction screen, said deletion stepdeletes the one child job, without deleting the parent job, if anotherof the plurality of child jobs is present, and deletes the one child joband the parent job, if no other ones of the plurality of child job arepresent.
 10. A method according to claim 7, further comprising: anadditional outputting step of outputting of the plurality of child jobsto a first print queue and a second print queue from which data are tobe output to a first printer and a second printer, respectively; and adeletion step of, when deletion of the parent job is instructed,deleting the respective child jobs retained in the first and secondprint queues.
 11. A method according to claim 10, wherein if theplurality of child jobs have been output to the first and secondprinters via the first and second print queues, respectively, saiddeletion step controls the first and second printers to delete the childjobs retained therein.
 12. A method according to claim 7, furthercomprising a deletion step that controls the first and second printersto delete the plurality of child jobs that have been output to the firstand second printers via first and second print queues, respectively,when deletion of the parent job is instructed.
 13. A computer programstored in a computer-readable medium for controlling distributionprinting, comprising: generating code for generating of a plurality ofchild jobs for a plurality of printers based on intermediate datagenerated as a parent job in accordance with application data, inresponse to input of an instruction for distribution printing;outputting code for outputting each of the plurality of child jobs to acorresponding one of the plurality of printers; and display code forcausing a display unit to display a status of the parent job, whereinsaid display code causes the display unit to display an output status ofthe parent job as the status of the parent job before any one of theplurality of child jobs is generated, and causes the display unit tochange displaying of the status of the parent job based on at least oneof the plurality of child jobs after the at least one child job isgenerated.
 14. A computer program stored in a computer-readable mediumaccording to claim 13, further comprising deletion code that controlsdeletion of the parent job after deleting the plurality of child jobs,when deletion of the parent job is instructed, wherein if any one of theplurality of child jobs cannot be deleted, said deletion controllercontrols deletion such that the parent job is deleted even if theplurality of child jobs are not deleted.
 15. A computer program storedin a computer-readable medium according to claim 13, further comprisingdeletion code that controls deletion of the plurality of child jobs andthe parent job, wherein when deletion of one of the plurality of childjobs is instructed via an operation instruction screen, said deletioncode deletes the one child job, without deleting the parent job, ifanother of the plurality of child jobs is present, and deletes the onechild job and the parent job, if no other ones of the plurality of childjob are present.
 16. A computer program stored in a computer-readablemedium according to claim 13, further comprising: additional output codefor additionally outputting the plurality of child jobs to a first printqueue and a second print queue from which data are to be output to afirst printer and a second printer, respectively; and deletion code for,when deletion of the parent job is instructed, deleting the respectivechild jobs retained in the first and second print queues.
 17. A computerprogram stored in a computer-readable medium according to claim 16,wherein if the plurality of child jobs have been output to the first andsecond printers via the first and second print queues, respectively,said deletion code controls the first and second printers to delete thechild jobs retained therein.
 18. A computer program stored in acomputer-readable medium according to claim 13, further comprisingdeletion code that controls the first and second printers to delete theplurality of child jobs that have been output to the first and secondprinters via first and second print queues, respectively, when deletionof the parent job is instructed.
 19. A computer-readable medium storinga computer program for a distribution printing system that controlsdistribution printing, comprising: child job code that controlsgenerating of a plurality of child jobs for a plurality of printersbased on intermediate data generated as a parent job in accordance withapplication data, in response to input of an instruction fordistribution printing; output code that controls outputting each of theplurality of child jobs to a corresponding one of the plurality ofprinters; and display code that causes a display unit to display astatus of the parent job, wherein said display code causes the displayunit to display an output status of the parent job as the status of theparent job before any one of the plurality of child jobs is generated,and causes the display unit to change displaying of the status of theparent job based on at least one of the plurality of child jobs afterthe at least one child job is generated.